1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention generally relates to open-front type refrigerated display cases configured such as to facilitate the movement of loaded mobile carts from a storage location to a display location within a stationary display fixture of the refrigerated case.
When utilizing refrigerated display cases for holding certain types of goods, it is desirable to minimize handling. In particular, when displaying bulk materials such as dairy products or other liquids, it becomes quite a tedious operation to transfer the goods from a storage location to a transfer cart and then from a transfer cart into the stationary display case. These two steps can be combined into one step by providing a movable display cart as a part of a refrigerated display case in which the cart may freely be moved to a stationary location within the display fixture to allow customers to take the desired items directly from the movable display cart from its fixed position within the refrigerated environment.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,535 issued to A. Perez et al. is an example of a refrigerated display case utilizing movable carts for fixed display therein. This system was one of the early attempts to provide a savings in the time and effort of stocking of dairy handling cases. However, the front section of the case designated as 13 had to be made removable and, as such, much of the time saved was lost in the removal operation of the lower front section. Also the lower return ducts designated as 18 and 19 are obstructions to placement of the loaded carts within the case and therefore the efficiency of the prior art systems was only slightly exceeded.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,543 to Miller shows another refrigerated case design utilizing removable carts for transporting and displaying bulk materials. This design required careful and time consuming orientation of the case with respect to the receiving tracks 43. Also this case required a complicated structure built into the lower section of the cart base for providing a return flow duct for the air at the bottom edge of the single or multiple air curtains. A similar design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,118 which utilizes the movable cart to provide the upper wall for the return duct. This return duct is formed by the cart when positioned within the case. The walls of the duct are formed by the underside of the cart in cooperation with the walls and floor of the refrigerated enclosure. In the '118 patent and the '543 patent, no closed cycle air curtain system is disclosed for retaining the refrigerated air curtain when the carts are not in place within the cases.
The present design provides a dairy handling refrigerated display case utilizing movable display carts without any types of orientation tracks, above ground ducts, ducts within the cart structure or removable sections of the stationary display fixtures. The present design is novel in these respects and presents a simple and efficient system for displaying bulky goods within refrigerated display cases.